Fahrenheit GLI: Not So Mellow Yellow

Yellow has always been a color that grabs your attention. As far back as the 1960s, you can find the Lamborghini Miura donning the bright shade on it’s exotic body. For the next few decades, it seems that yellow was worn only by Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and other imports but that has changed in the last decade or so. Nowadays, you can drive down the road and see everything from a yellow Cobalt to an Amarillo Edition Ford F-250. It’s almost as if yellow doesn’t catch your eye anymore like it used to but when Volkswagen released the Fahrenheit Edition Jetta in 2007 with a different lip kit, wheels, and trim package, they were definitely trying to turn heads.

Tom Grinsell was one of Volkswagen’s victims when he fell in love with the Fahrenheit when they first hit US shores in 2007. The $27k price tag proved a little much for him at that point but he was determined to own one eventually. Well, the opportunity finally presented itself in September of 2009 when he found one for the right price and scooped in up quicker than you could say “Fahrvergnügen”. Like any good car enthusiast, Tom quickly got to work making the car look presentable by getting rid of the stock suspension for Raceland coilovers and adding a couple classy touches like tinting the windows and doing the roof in a gloss black vinyl.

After rocking a few different sets of wheels over the first winter and show season he owned the car, Tom decided that it was time to step up his whip game (yes, I just said that). Not many Fahrenheits have been modified heavily so Tom wanted to leave his mark on the Fahrenheit world as well as the Volkswagen scene in general. He decided over the second winter he owned the car (2010-2011) that he was going to leave his static stance behind and go with a full Airlift air ride setup. Well, now with the means to air out, he needed some nice wheels to air the car out on to complete the look.

BBS’s are ALWAYS a great choice when it comes to wheels and that’s where Tom decided to look. In a time where it’s so easy to find a set of RS’s to build up or buy already built and perfect online, Tom took the path less traveled and went with a BBS enthusiast’s favorite: BBS RF’s. These 5-spoke beauties have long been a favorite model in the German company’s line-up but aren’t seen as much as the mesh style of the RS’s and RM’s these days. He decided to go wide or go home and went with 17×8.5/9.5’s which proved to be perfect with offsets of 26 and 13, respectively.

Tom is leaving his mark on the scene every time he airs out. In person, the car is stunning and does more than just catch your eye; it demands your attention. With more plans coming over winter, it won’t be hard to keep tabs on this not so mellow, yellow Fahrenheit GLI….

Though Volkswagon does make a good vehicle and though they are one of the most popular manufacturers in the tuner/modding scene, I have never truly been attracted to them, other then the scattered one that really stands out; and Mr. Grinsell’s GLI definitely stands out. I think this VW is absolutely brilliant and I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Rice when he says, “…it demands your attention.” Grinsell’s GLI sucked me in to its aura of awesomeness from the moment I saw it on the home page and I hope we see more of it in the future. Props to both Mr. Unternaher and Mr. Rice for yet another, great Canibeat post.